Page 16 of No Quarter

CHAPTER FOUR

A momentary glance in Valerie’s handbag and one of the Mesmer building guards, the younger of the two with blond hair, pulled out a transparent plastic bag with a coffee cup inside and then another containing a small vial.

He looked at Valerie.

“Is something the matter?” Valerie asked, trying not to lose her patience.

She knew what it was like to be overly fastidious when starting a new job. However, the Mesmer building was where her FBI team was based, the place where she tracked down serial killers. But today, she had dual purposes. One was to work, the other was to have a friend in the labs test her father’s DNA. She didn’t have time for unnecessary security checks.

“No, Ma’am…” the security guard said, unconvincingly.

“It’s evidence,” Valerie said. “I’ll need that back.”

“Oh … it’s just … shouldn’t evidence be logged in proper evidence bags?” the guard said, his voice sounding uncertain.

Valerie leaned forward and took her handbag and the rest back. “Section 11, paragraph 3c of evidence procurement at the Bureau, my friend. Sometimes an agent won’t have time to store everything strictly by the book while in the field, in exceptional circumstances.”

The guard’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“That’s okay,” Valerie leaned in and looked at his name tag. “Walt. It’s great to know that we’re all in such safe hands with someone being so by the book. Thank you.”

The guard’s cheeks flushed even brighter, but this time he smiled with pride. “Thank you very much, Agent Law.”

Valerie said goodbye and walked toward the elevators. As she did, she stared at the bags in her hands. The coffee cup she had taken from her dad without his knowledge. The swab she had taken from Suzie.

In these bags, she thought.There’s some truth about me.

But she wouldn’t know that truth until Archie in forensics ran the test for her. She would drop them off to him later that day, but for now, she had to head up to her desk at the Criminal Psychopathy Unit.

Two women had been brutally murdered. And it was her duty to catch the killer before he killed again.

*

Valerie looked at her boss and wondered if the Criminal Psychopathy Unit and all its dealings with the most dangerous serial killers in the country was finally weighing down on him.

Jackson stood in front of the touchscreen in the briefing room. Dressed impeccably in a suit and black tie, he looked more forlorn than he usually was. His features were a little haggard, and there were dark patches beneath his eyes as though he hadn’t slept well, if at all.

“These are the images that have been sent to us by the initial investigating officers,” Jackson said, moving his hand across a touchscreen and revealing two barbaric photographs of the victims.

Valerie heard footsteps at the glass door to the room. The door opened and in walked Charlie and Dr. Will Cooper. He was every bit her partner now as well, though he was first assigned to the team in a consultancy role.

Older than Valerie and Charlie, he still wasn’t as experienced in the field, but he was indispensable, being the leading expert in the country on serial killer psychology.

“Where have you two been?” Jackson snapped at them.

“Sorry, Chief,” Charlie said. “I found the doctor here trying to read the last rites to our coffee machine.”

“We should bury that machine out in the yard,” Will said, fixing his tie. “It nearly took my fingers off.”

Valerie laughed. “Technology and dusty academics don’t really go together.”

“Simmer down everyone,” Jackson said, his voice grave. “I have a pressing meeting after this briefing, so I’d like to get you on the road as quickly as possible.”

Valerie felt that there was something wrong with Jackson.

He was never usually that short with them. For the first time since she had known him, she felt concern for him. It was usually the other way around. He looked like a man under pressure, ready to crack.

“I was just showing Agent Law the images of our two victims,” he continued.

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